Topics / #linux-kernel

Linux-kernel projects on GitHub

Kernel internals, modules, and low-level systems programming on Linux.

As of October 19, 2026, the most-starred Linux-kernel projects on GitHub are linux (252.3K stars), WSL (34.1K stars) and linux-insides (33.7K stars). GitHub.Locker tracks 18 Linux-kernel repositories with 516.5K stars combined. The fastest-growing on October 17 was linux, with +138 stars in a day.

18Projects

516.5KStars in total

+313Stars in a day

Browse in the catalog →github.com/topics/linux-kernel ↗

Hot right now

Most stars gained in a day · Oct 17

+138

linux

torvalds/linux · ★ 252.3K

This is the Linux kernel itself - the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware and system resources and provides the fundamental services all other software runs on.

+59

KernelSU

tiann/KernelSU · ★ 19.4K

KernelSU is a kernel-based root solution for Android devices: the su and root access management run inside the kernel itself.

+41

ghostlock-app

YuKongA/ghostlock-app · ★ 2K

GhostLock is a one-tap Android app that runs the CVE-2026-43499 kernel exploit to grant uid 0 (root) on a matching vulnerable kernel, optionally loading a KernelSU-style module afterward.

+22

openwrt

openwrt/openwrt · ★ 28.8K

OpenWrt is a Linux-based operating system built for embedded devices, mostly routers, that replaces a single static vendor firmware with a fully writable filesystem and its own package manager so you can customize the device however you want.

The all-time top

18 projects · by stars

#1 · torvalds/linux
linux
This is the Linux kernel itself - the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware and system resources and provides the fundamental services all other software runs on.
252.3K
#2 · microsoft/WSL
WSL
Windows Subsystem for Linux: a way to run Linux command-line tools, utilities and applications unmodified, directly on Windows, without the overhead of a traditional VM or a dual-boot setup.
34.1K
#3 · 0xAX/linux-insides
linux-insides
This is a free, work-in-progress book that explains the internals of the Linux kernel, covering topics like booting, memory management, and system calls in deep technical detail.
33.7K

4
openwrt
28.8Kopenwrt/openwrt · C
OpenWrt is a Linux-based operating system built for embedded devices, mostly routers, that replaces a single static vendor firmware with a fully writable filesystem and its own package manager so you can customize the device however you want.
5
bcc
22.7Kiovisor/bcc · C
BCC (BPF Compiler Collection) is a toolkit for creating efficient kernel tracing and manipulation programs on Linux using eBPF. It also ships a large collection of ready-made tools for I/O analysis, networking, and monitoring.
6
flash-linux0.11-talk
22.7Kdibingfa/flash-linux0.11-talk · HTML
This is a Chinese-language article series that walks line by line through the full source code of the Linux 0.11 kernel, explaining operating system design concepts as if reading a novel.
7
KernelSU
19.4Ktiann/KernelSU · Kotlin
KernelSU is a kernel-based root solution for Android devices: the su and root access management run inside the kernel itself.
8
open-gpu-kernel-modules
17.5KNVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules · C
This is NVIDIA's official source release of the open-source Linux GPU kernel modules (nvidia.ko, nvidia-drm.ko, nvidia-modeset.ko, nvidia-uvm.ko) for Turing and newer GPUs.
9
raspberry-pi-os
14Ks-matyukevich/raspberry-pi-os · C
A step-by-step guide that teaches you how to create a simple operating system kernel from scratch, called RPi OS. Its code is largely based on the Linux kernel, and everything targets the Raspberry Pi 3.
10
linux
13.3Kraspberrypi/linux · C
This is Raspberry Pi's own Linux kernel source tree: the code its official Pi kernels are built from, with Pi-specific drivers and patches carried on top of the mainline Linux kernel.
11
lowlevelprogramming-university
12.8Kgurugio/lowlevelprogramming-university
A curated roadmap for learning low-level programming (assembly, C, Rust, embedded systems, Linux kernel), inspired by google-interview-university. It is a single long README with links to books, courses, and projects organized by topic.
12
zfs
12.5Kopenzfs/zfs · C
OpenZFS is an advanced file system and volume manager that started life on Solaris and is now maintained by the OpenZFS community. This repository contains the code for running it on Linux and FreeBSD.
13
WSL2-Linux-Kernel
10.6Kmicrosoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel · C
This is the official source repository for the Linux kernel that powers WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux 2), including the kernel source code and configuration files used by Microsoft.
14
perf-tools
10.5Kbrendangregg/perf-tools · Shell
A collection of command-line scripts for analyzing Linux performance using ftrace and perf_events (the 'perf' command), created by Brendan Gregg (author of the DTraceToolkit).
15
dirtyfrag
5.1KV4bel/dirtyfrag · C
Dirty Frag is a proof-of-concept Linux kernel local privilege escalation exploit that chains two page-cache write vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-43284 and CVE-2026-43500) to obtain root on major Linux distributions.
16
copy-fail-CVE-2026-31431
4.1Ktheori-io/copy-fail-CVE-2026-31431 · Python
This repository is a technical writeup and proof-of-concept for CVE-2026-31431, a 9-year-old Linux kernel local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability found by Theori's AI vulnerability research tool, Xint Code.
17
ghostlock-app
2KYuKongA/ghostlock-app · Kotlin
GhostLock is a one-tap Android app that runs the CVE-2026-43499 kernel exploit to grant uid 0 (root) on a matching vulnerable kernel, optionally loading a KernelSU-style module afterward.
18
mu300-linux
602dikeckaan/mu300-linux · C
This project turns the ZTE F50/MU300 and ZTE U30 Air 5G pocket hotspots into small Linux computers that run next to Android, giving you Ubuntu or OpenWrt with working Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SSH and the device's own 5G modem.